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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres
22.
De non iurando autem, quia et hic illorum legem a Christo adimpletam esse dixisti, non possum affirmare antiquos iustos non iurasse; nam et Paulum apostolum iurasse invenimus. p. 520,17 De vestro autem ore non tollitur crebra iuratio, cum iuretis per lumen, quod amatis cum muscis – neque enim lumen illud mentium ab istis oculis penitus alienum, quod illuminat omnem hominem venientem _ (veniens ?)_in hunc mundum, nostis aliqua ex parte cogitare – et per dominum vestrum Manichaeum, qui Manis lingua patria vocabatur. Sed vos, ut apud Graecos nomen insaniae vitaretis, velut declinato et prolongato nomine quasi fusionem addidistis, ubi amplius laberemini. Sic enim mihi quidam vestrum exposuit, cur appellatus sit Manichaeus, ut scilicet in graeca lingua tamquam manna fundere videretur, quia graece fundit χει dicitur, p. 521,3 ubi quid egeritis nescio, nisi ut expressius vobis somniaremini insaniam. Neque enim addidistis in parte priore nominis unam litteram, ut agnosceretur manna, sed addidistis in posteriore duas syllabas, non appellantes Mannicheum, sed Manichaeum, ut nihil aliud vobis tam prolixis et vanis sermonibus suis nisi insaniam fundere sonaret. Saepissime iuratis et per paracletum, non sane illum, quem Christus discipulis promisit et misit, sed per eum ipsum, ut latine nomen eius interpreter, insanifusorem. Cum ergo iurare numquam desinatis, vellem scire, quomodo intellegatis hanc quoque legis partem, quam vultis antiquissimam intellegi, quod vobis dominus adimpleverit, et magis propter iurationes apostoli. p. 521,14 Nam vestra quae auctoritas est vel vobis ipsis, nedum mihi, aut cuiquam homini! Unde puto iam clarere, quam sit aliter recipiendum, quod ait Christus: Non veni legem solvere, sed adimplere, non his videlicet additamentis, quae vel ad expositionem pertinent propositarum antiquarum sententiarum vel ad conversationem, non ad impletionem.
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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
22.
As regards not swearing, in which also you say that Christ completed the law given to these righteous men of antiquity, I cannot be certain that they did not swear, for we find that Paul the apostle swore. With you, swearing is still a common practice, for you swear by the light, which you love as flies do; for the light of the mind which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, as distinct from mere natural light, you know nothing of. You swear, too, by your master Manichaeus, whose name in his own tongue was Manes. As the name Manes seemed to be connected with the Greek word for madness, you have changed it by adding a suffix, which only makes matters worse, by giving the new meaning of pouring forth madness. One of your own sect told me that the name Manichaeus was intended to be derived from the Greek words for pouring forth manna; for cheein means to pour. But, as it is, you only express the idea of madness with greater emphasis. For by adding the two syllables, while you have forgotten to insert another letter in the beginning of the word, you make it not Mannichaeus, but Manichaeus; which must mean that he pours forth madness in his long unprofitable discourses. Again, you often swear by the Paraclete,--not the Paraclete promised and sent by Christ to His disciples, but this same madness-pourer himself. Since, then, you are constantly swearing, I should like to know in what sense you make Christ to have fulfilled this part of the law, which is one you mention as belonging to the earliest times. And what do you make of the oaths of the apostle? For as to your authority, it cannot weigh much with yourselves, not to speak of me or any other person. It is therefore evident that Christ's words, "I am come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it," have not the meaning which you give them. Christ makes no reference in these words to His comments on the ancient sayings which He quotes, and of which His discourse was an explanation, but not a fulfillment.